Virginia governor hospitalized after being thrown from horse

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Advocates and opponents of gun control held dueling demonstrations at the Virginia Capitol on Monday as the perennial debate over the hot-button topic began anew. Terry McAuliffe was admitted to a hospital Monday due to fluid buildup around his lungs, weeks after he broke several ribs in a horse-riding accident, his office said.

McAuliffe was thrown from the horse in late December while on a family vacation visiting his daughter who works at a nonprofit in Tanzania, said Brian Coy, a spokesman for the governor. Many attendees wore orange “Guns Save Lives” stickers and a speaker assailed McAuliffe and other gun-control advocates as “gun grabbers.” In the afternoon, gun-control backers wore yellow “Background Checks Save Lives” stickers and displayed a string of red paper hearts representing the more than 800 gun deaths in Virginia last year. McAuliffe has proposed restoring a Virginia law, repealed in 2012, limiting handgun purchases to one a month; closing the so-called “gun show loophole” that allows sales by private sellers without a criminal background check; prohibiting possession of firearms by people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence and those subject to protective orders; and revoking concealed handgun permits of parents delinquent on child support payments. McAuliffe’s packed schedule doesn’t allow him to routinely participate in equestrian activities, the governor is confident in his riding abilities, his spokesman said.